Cassandra Jean Grammel, 24, is facing charges of hit and run and DUI causing… (The Palm Beach County Sheriff's…)

October 8, 2013|By Brittany Shammas, Sun Sentinel

Police say a woman with a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit ran a red light in Delray Beach on Sunday and plowed into a couple who were crossing a street and pushing their two young children in a stroller.

Cassandra Jean Grammel, 24, left the crash at the intersection of East Atlantic Avenue and Gleason Street minutes after it happened around 10:40 p.m., according to a city police report. The Boynton Beach woman only stopped when she drove her Honda Accord into traffic signs about three minutes away, on the 700 block of Southeast Third Street. Officers caught up with Grammel there and arrested her.

The man and woman she is accused of hitting, Daniel and Kelly Heneghan of Haddon Township, N.J., were left lying in the road, police said. Their children, a 4-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy, were unharmed when the stroller was propelled into the bushes with them strapped inside.

Both parents were taken to Delray Medical Center and the children were turned over to family members. The mother was released from the hospital Sunday night, while the father had a serious leg injury and remained hospitalized Monday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Nicole Guerriero said. They were not available for comment Monday, as Daniel Heneghan was headed into surgery.

Police tracked down a crying Grammel with the help of a witness who saw the crash and described her. She was sitting in her silver Accord where it crashed the second time, the engine running and windshield smashed, the report said. Grammel admitted to hitting the family and leaving the scene, according to the report.

"She stated multiple times that she was sorry," an officer noted.

With glassy, red eyes and the smell of alcohol on her breath, Grammel also admitted having a couple drinks with vodka in them. She nearly fell over and looked at the officer with a "blank stare" as she struggled to perform sobriety exercises. The officer ended several of the tests because she couldn't comprehend the instructions, the report said.

Breath tests put Grammel's blood alcohol content at .263 and .265, according to the report. Florida's legal limit is .08.

State records show Grammel has a clean driving record, but she just got her Florida license about two weeks ago. Her Facebook page says she recently moved to Boynton Beach from Charlotte, N.C.

Grammel is facing charges of DUI causing serious injury and hit and run. Late Monday, she remained behind bars in lieu of $10,000 bail, county records show.